


A Gift, at Last

by masulevin



Series: Written in the Stars [7]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Babysitting, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Plans For The Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-09 14:43:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19478041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masulevin/pseuds/masulevin
Summary: A few years after they're settled back on Kadara, Avery is ready for more. Reyes is on the same page.An explicit fic for MER Week 2019.





	A Gift, at Last

Avery is dangerously close to falling asleep when the back door opens. Dominic perks up at the sound, dropping the datapad he’d been using to practice division problems onto the low table in the living room. His eyes are bright and excited, and she’d be a little offended if she’d been trying to make sure he had fun instead of finished his homework, so she just smiles and jerks her head in the direction of the door.

He’s off before she manages to stand, careful with his little brother tucked tight against her chest. The baby shifts and makes a little noise, but when she glances down at his face it’s just to see he’s sucking on his tongue in his sleep.

“There’s a man in here!” Dominic’s doesn’t sound panicked, just disappointed, so Avery doesn’t walk any faster around the corner to see Reyes and Dominic staring at each other with equally confused faces. 

Avery laughs a little. “Dom, that’s Reyes.” She closes the distance between them and ruffles the boy’s hair; he flinches away from her with a huff. “Why don’t you go watch a movie for a bit? Your mom should be here soon.”

He bounds off, happy to no longer have to work on his homework, leaving Avery alone with Reyes. He’s staring at her with his head cocked to the side and his thumbs looped into the pockets of his flight jacket, and he waits for her to explain herself.

“They’re Delia’s kids,” she says, closing the rest of the distance between them to get a kiss. “She’s been having a hard time, so I told her I’d watch them if she wanted a nap. I thought you’d be back later.”

Reyes gives her a slow kiss, resting his hand on the small of her back. He kisses her forehead too, as she’s pulling away, and then stares down at the sleeping infant in her arms. “That was nice of you,” he says, voice pitched low so he won’t disturb the little one.

She shrugs. “I had the time, and Dom’s pretty sweet. He’s just grumpy because I wouldn’t let him watch any vids until he’d finished his homework. And besides, who can say no to this face?” She shifts the baby around again so she’s holding him perpendicular to her body, his legs pressed against her stomach and his head and back supported with her hands. The baby sucks harder on his tongue in response.

“He is sweet,  _ mi reina, _ ” Reyes says, rubbing small circles on her back while he kisses her temple again. “When will she come back?”

She shrugs. “Soon, I think. She’s been asleep for like… three hours.”

He hums a little in acknowledgement, and they stare at the baby for another moment before he asks, “Can I hold him?”

“Oh, yeah, sure, here.” She passes the baby over carefully, showing Reyes how to hold him even though she doesn’t really need to. Reyes cradles the baby against his chest with sure movements, swaying from side to side in the unconscious movement all adults share when they’re holding small children.

Avery takes a step back and smiles at the sight, allowing herself a moment to wallow in the fierce wave of  _ want  _ that always comes over her when she thinks about starting a family with Reyes. She wanted to keep waiting the last time they talked about it, the knowledge that her mom is still alive but in cryo holding her back.

But now? Watching Reyes humming a soft song while cradling a tiny baby?

She has to turn away, feign walking back to check on Dominic to hide the way her eyes suddenly well with tears. For his part, Dom is laying on his stomach on the couch, an old animated vid playing on the datapad that he’s propped up in front of his face. He’s definitely too close to the screen, but she ignores that in favor of discretely wiping her eyes.

There’s a barely-there knock on the door behind her, and then the sound of it opening. Avery turns back to the kitchen to see Delia slipping in and greeting Reyes, so Avery reaches over the back of the couch to tickle his side. 

“Mom’s here,” she says, wiping her eyes one last time with her free hand. This time, Dominic slides off the couch with the datapad held up to his face. He walks all the way to the kitchen like that, not looking up, and leans against his mom where she’s standing and talking to Reyes.

The baby’s starting to squirm in Reyes’ arms, but Delia reaches out to hug Avery first. She squeezes hard, whispering a heartfelt  _ thank you  _ into her ear. When she pulls back, she takes the baby from Reyes and tucks him up with his head on her shoulder as he starts to whimper.

“Hey, say thank you for letting you come over,” she says, tapping Dominic on the head.

He drags his attention from his datapad and gazes up at Avery. “Thanks, Mrs. Vidal,” he says, sounding a little bored and not particularly thankful, and lets his mom guide him out of the house while Reyes chokes on a laugh.

When the door closes behind them, Reyes’ smothered laughter turns into a full chuckle, and Avery sheepishly smiles back. “How long was I gone? What else did I miss?”

She rolls her eyes at him and moves deeper into the kitchen to lean against the counter with her hip. He follows her and boxes her in with his hands on either side of her. 

“Did you make any other big changes I need to know about,  _ Mrs. Vidal?” _

“You  _ know  _ it’s easier if people don’t know I’m a Ryder, not this close to Ditaeon.”

Her nose wrinkles as she grimaces at him, and he kisses the tip of it. She’s been complaining about her last name the entire time they’ve been together, from separate apartments in the slums, to Reyes’ apartment, to the two-bedroom house they built up the hill on the outskirts of the Initiative colony with the blocked-off section of land to the south for a small garden neither of them knows how to start. It’s not like he should be surprised that the neighbors are a little confused about her identity, not as their little homestead turns into part of a loose neighborhood.

“Hmm,” is Reyes’ only response. He kisses her lips and then wraps his arms around her in a tight hug.

She ducks her head and snuggles closer, holding him just as tight. “How was your trip?”

As far as anyone else knows, Reyes is a shuttle pilot who makes deliveries between planets. Avery never directly asks about his business with the Collective; she never has, and she never will. She just wants to make sure he’s safe and in her bed more nights than he’s not.

“Too long,” he says. He always says his trips were too long. “Should be the last one for a while.” That means it was good, too, that whatever his specific mission had been was successful.

She squeezes him a little tighter and tries not to think about the way he smiled down at Delia’s baby. She tries not to think about the way he would look at their own baby, a little thing with his warm brown skin and her naturally dark hair. She definitely doesn’t think about the second bedroom that he had accidentally described as being “an office  _ for now _ ” or how he sometimes falls asleep with his hand on her stomach after they make love.

“What’s wrong?” He kisses the top of her head and she sniffles, turning to press her face into his chest instead of answering the question. He rubs his hand over her back and waits. She knows the question and he’s so much more patient than she’s ever been.

When she works up the courage to speak, she moves her arms from around his waist to around his neck and rests her chin on his shoulder so he’ll be able to hear her but she won’t have to look directly at him. Instead, she stares at the angaran painting on the far wall as she says, “I don’t want to wait anymore. I want--” her voice breaks, so she swallows hard and tries again. “I want a baby. I’m ready to be a mom.”

His hand doesn’t stop its soothing rhythm on her back. He doesn’t seem surprised, but he takes a deep breath before he says, “I thought you wanted to wait. For your mom.”

She releases a shaky breath of her own. “It’s been three years. I can’t wait forever.”

He kisses her cheek as he pulls away, just enough to look at her. He keeps one hand on her waist and uses the other to cup her cheek, holding her steady so she’ll meet his eyes. She does and waits for him to find whatever he’s searching for in her expression. She blinks hard and a tear escapes; he brushes it dry with his thumb.

For a moment, she’s afraid he’s going to turn her down, to say he’s not ready or he doesn’t want kids at all, but then he’s drawing her in for a gentle kiss that she feels all the way down to her toes. She gasps, barely able to kiss him back, and then he rests his forehead against hers so he can speak.

“I have a present for you.”

“Huh?” She’s too emotionally wrung out to follow this leap in the conversation, so she just pulls back and stares at him. Did he pick something up for her while he was on Elaaden? He doesn’t usually bring back souvenirs when he’s on Collective business…

“Wait here.” He kisses her again, soundly, and then he’s gone, loping off toward their bedroom while she waits in the kitchen, suddenly cold without his body against hers. 

He comes back almost immediately, something small in one of his hands. When he’s by her side again, he takes her left hand in his and slips a ring onto her fourth finger. She stares at it, uncomprehending, trying to decipher the meaning behind the delicate gold band and red stones. 

“I know family is the most important thing to you,” he says, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. “I’m thankful every day that you looked at me and didn’t turn around and run away, that you decided to love me and everything I am.”

“Reyes,” she starts, her tears starting to fall again in earnest.

He wipes those away too, and she settles her hands on his waist. “I love you,  _ mi vida.  _ My life. I’ve wanted this since you stepped into my arms on Meridian and wouldn’t let go to save your own life.” Here, his voice breaks, and Avery lets out a sob. “I’m yours, whenever and for however long you’ll have me. We can do  _ this _ \-- get married, have children, be a family -- whenever you want. Today, tomorrow, in five years. I love you. And everything it means.”

“Reyes,” she tries again, but the rest of her words won’t come. “Reyes, are you asking me to marry you?”

“Yes.” His answer is simple and straightforward, and if she could blink the tears out of her eyes she would see mirroring tears in his. 

She nods at him, fast and desperate, and crushes their lips together. He groans against her, stepping closer so she’s trapped once more between him and the counter. He buries his hands in her hair and she digs her fingernails into the thick fabric of his flight suit.

When he breaks away from her lips to kiss her neck, she works her hands around to pull at the fastenings holding his suit together, pulling at snaps and zippers until he’s exposed to the waist and she can touch the bare skin of his chest.

“How does a winter wedding sound?” she asks, breathless, and moans when he nips at her collarbone in reply. It’s already autumn, or what passes for it on Kadara. “Maybe we can, we can honeymoon on a beach somewhere. I have a bikini that I think still fits. Oh!”

She exclaims when he scoops her up bridal style without any warning, and she laughs as he carries her to the bedroom. He settles her in the center of their bed and stays standing to remove his boots and flight suit, and she strips out of her clothes so that she’s naked by the time he’s ready and crawling over top of her to settle between her legs.

She kisses him again and runs her hands over his back down to his ass. He groans and presses closer, and she smiles against his lips. It feels right when she reaches between them to wrap her fingers around his length, to stroke it once before guiding him into her. He slides in easily and they moan as one when he fills her completely.

“You feel amazing,” he says, words breathed against his skin as he moves his hips in shallow motions, just getting used to being inside her again after their time apart. He kisses her neck and she shivers, tilting her head back and wrapping her legs around his hips.

“I love you,” she says back, voice hoarse. This isn’t where she thought the day would lead, but…

He kisses her on the lips. “ _Te amo_ ,” he says, and then he props himself up higher on his elbows so he can move more freely. He moves faster inside her, following instincts built over their years together to make her breath come faster and sweat bead on her skin.

She finishes with a quiet whimper, the pleasure washing over her and bringing tears to her eyes once more. She drags Reyes’ face back to hers and bites his lip, pulls his hair, and then he’s finishing too, filling her with a low groan against her mouth.

He stays inside her as he grows soft, resting there to catch his breath, and she massages his temples with her thumbs as she cradles his jaw. 

“Rey?”

“Mmm?”

He opens those golden eyes to stare down at her, and she can’t help the smile that comes to her face when their gazes meet.

“You’re serious about all this?”

His responding noise is half a sigh, half a chuckle. “Yes.”

She nods. “Okay. When can we… start trying?”

He leans down to kiss her forehead, then pulls out of her and curls up against her side. She turns into him and tucks herself under his chin, making a little noise of contentment when he gathers her up in his arms.

“I need about half an hour,” he says, and then starts talking faster when she inhales sharply at his joke, “but we can call the repopulation people first thing tomorrow. As soon as you want. I’m waiting for you.”

She relaxes back into his arms, eyes suddenly heavy.

“I love you,” she says, again. She’ll say it as many times as she can.

His voice is low, sleepy. “I love you too.”


End file.
